This past weekend, Wintergreen Adaptive Sports hosted its 22nd annual event for ‘Wounded Warriors.’ They welcomed veterans who sustained injuries or disabilities during their service, along with family members and caregivers, for a weekend of snow sports and camaraderie. WMRA's Meredith McCool reports.
A wind chill of 5 degrees below zero couldn’t keep wounded warriors and their families from gathering on the Wintergreen ski slopes.
KATHLEEN BOOTH: We have great athletes out on the hill. We got great volunteers, we got great weather, we got great snow. Couldn't be better. And we have hand warmers, so we're crushing it.
Kathleen Booth is the executive director of Wintergreen Adaptive Sports, a nonprofit with a mission to –
BOOTH: … get people with disabilities outdoors and recreating in whatever way works best for them. So we're a year-round program, but in our winter season, … that means sliding on snow. … Some people that’s snowboarding, some people that's skiing, some people we use some adaptive equipment. So maybe somebody is a wheelchair user, we have something we call a sit-ski, so they can still get out on the hill. … That's one of our sit-skiers right there. You see him going down in the sit-ski.
McCOOL: Oh yeah. And is that person with him?
BOOTH: Yes. So they are attached by what we call tethers, and that individual is in a bi-ski. … A bi-ski, at least at our program, is typically going to be tethered. And so that means there's an instructor behind kind of helping initiate those turns. Because skiing is all about turning. If you're not turning, you're not really skiing.
Among the skiers braving the cold and wind on the mountain were sisters Sinaiyah and Azara Emami. Sinaiyah shared that their parents …
SINAIYAH EMAMI: … are both veterans, but my dad is an injured veteran, and so here they're able to accommodate some of the limitations that we as a family have, whereas just skiing regularly, it would be a little bit harder.
The sisters have started a blog to bring community and awareness to children of wounded, ill, and injured veterans.
EMAMI: It’s called “We Signed Up Too.”
They hope to spread the message that when a military member enlists or signs up to serve, they're signing up their entire family.
BOOTH: They always do a good job of talking about, like, yes, if somebody’s injured in combat, that definitely affects that person, right? But it also affects their spouse and it affects their kids. And the cool thing is, the wounded warriors get to connect with each other about experiences that only they've had, but also the family members get to connect with each other about what it's like.
Cara Ferris attended with her five- and eight-year-old daughters and her husband, a veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan.
CARA FERRIS: It's our favorite weekend. … For my husband, he has a back injury he'll always have for the rest of his life. So for him, being able to be on the mountain and know that he has the support that he needs if, you know, he falls or whatever, it lets him live a kind of normal life. For my children, it allows them to experience a cool extreme sport.
Some warriors, like Cara’s husband and Sinaiyah and Azara’s dad, only began participating in winter sports after their injuries. Others, like Zimbo Paul, a veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces, had been skiing long before.
ZIMBO PAUL: I learned to ski when I was stationed in Germany 40 years ago. And then towards the end of my almost 20-year career, I got wounded, and then I've had a long break, so I had to heal. And so I got back into it about three years ago. … And it feels good to get back into it, and I'm learning a new skill. So I learned to ski, but out here, I'm taking advantage of the lessons to learn snowboarding.
McCOOL: Knowing that you had an injury that you had to heal from. … I would be so terrified.
PAUL : Yeah. … If you give into a fear one time, then the next time, it's easier to give into it, and the time after that it’s even easier. And next thing you know, you're quitting all the time, and you never do anything that’s difficult, and you never progress, and you never squeeze more juice out of life. And so I just purposely chase down hard things all the time, just so that I can squeeze more life out of every day. What's the worst thing that could happen? I don't get it, you know? So I don't learn to snowboard? That's the worst thing that's gonna happen, right? So I got nothing to lose. I'll just go out and get it. I mean, I might get beat up a little bit, but I'll recover. I’ve been beat up before.
Events like the Wounded Warriors Weekend would not be possible without Wintergreen Adaptive Sports’ supporters, donors, and volunteers.
BOOTH: Every time we get another volunteer, that means we get more students and athletes out on the hill.
Volunteer instructors are needed seven days a week in the winter, with mid-week volunteers being particularly helpful.
